Effects Of Advance Organizers On Learning And Retention From A Fully Web-based Class

The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of two kinds of advance organizers (AOs), a visual concept map and a text outline. The AOs were administered in a fully Web-based course in health care ethics. The outcome measures are students\u27 knowledge acquisition and application in two posttests. This study was conducted through a post-test only control group design with a random assignment. The population of the study involved 166 college students who participated in this online class in their junior or senior year. The voluntary research participants were randomly assigned into the two treatment groups and one control group. The treatment of AO was administered as an integral part of a one-week-long online module on the topic of patient-physician relationships. Students of the two treatment groups were presented with one of the two AOs, while the control group was instructed to proceed to textbook reading without an AO. Then, students were tested on the subject matter with two parallel posttests. Both posttests were composed of a multiple-choice question quiz and a set of scenario-based essay questions. The students took posttest I at the end of the instructional week, and posttest II four weeks after. A survey and interviews were also conducted to supplement the quantitative results with contextual information. The findings do not demonstrate a statistically significant AO effect among the treatment groups and the control group. However, in agreement with the previous research, this study shows a positive but inconclusive benefit of using AOs for students\u27 short-term knowledge acquisition. The students using a concept map consistently obtained higher learning achievements than individuals using a text outline. More importantly, this study reiterated the proposition that students of lower-learning abilities benefit more from using an AO for online learning than those of higher-learning abilities. The current study extends our knowledge on the use of AOs in fully Web-based educational environments. The results indicated that although AOs more often than not have small facilitative effects for learners, they are not equally effective for all learners in all learning situations. The incorporation of the instructional strategies, such as AOs, in Web-based courses and programs might benefit online learners, especially those students of lower verbal and analytical abilities, or of lower prior knowledge of the material-to-be-learned

Diagnostic Yields of Trio-WES Accompanied by CNVseq for Rare Neurodevelopmental Disorders

ObjectiveThis study is to investigate the diagnostic yield of the combination of trio whole exome sequencing (Trio-WES) and copy number variation sequencing (CNVseq) for rare neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs).MethodsClinical data from consecutive pediatric patients who were diagnosed with rare NDDs that were suspected to be monogenic disorders, who were admitted to our hospital from April 2017 to March 2019, and who underwent next generation sequencing (NGS) were extracted from the medical records. Patients for whom Trio-WES and CNVseq data were available were enrolled in this study. Sanger sequencing was applied for the validation of the variants identified by Trio-WES. Sequence alignment and structural modeling were conducted for analyzing the possibility of the variants in the onset of the NDDs.ResultsIn total, 54 patients were enrolled in this study, with the median age of 15 (8–26) months. A total of 242 phenotypic abnormalities belonging to 20 different systems were identified in the cohort. Twenty-four patients were diagnosed by Trio-WES, eight patients were diagnosed by CNVseq, and one case was identified by both WES and CNVseq. Compared with Trio-WES, the diagnosis rate of Trio-WES accompanied by CNVseq was significantly higher (P = 0.016). Trio-WES identified 36 variants in 26 different genes, among which 27 variants were novel. CNVseq detected four duplications and eight deletions, ranging from 310 kb to 23.27 Mb. Our case examples demonstrated the high heterogeneity of NDDs and showed the challenges of rare NDDs for physicians.ConclusionThe significantly higher diagnosis rate of Trio-WES accompanied by CNVseq makes this strategy a potential alternative to the most widely used approaches for pediatric children with rare and undiagnosed NDDs

Exploring students’ mobile learning practices in higher education

A university-wide survey on students\u27 mobile learning practices showed that ownership of mobile devices is high among students and that tablets are the most popular devices for academic purposes. The survey also found that mobile learning typically occurs outside the classroom, with only limited guidance from instructors. To improve mobile learning effectiveness, students and instructors need help adopting more effective learning and teaching practices across content areas

Investigating Instructional Strategies for Using Social Media in Formal and Informal Learning

Despite the high popularity of personal use of online social media, a low percentage of students and instructors use them for educational purposes. This qualitative study explores the use of social media among faculty in the discipline of public administration in the United States. Eight instructors participated in telephone interviews about their experiences and perceptions of using social media for teaching and learning. Instructors perceive that informal learning using social media could be facilitated by instructors and integrated into formal learning environments for enriched discussions, increased engagement, and broad connections. This study provides qualitative empirical support for social learning theories while offering strategies for and examples of how social media can be used to connect formal and informal learning

Students\u27 Self-Presentation On Facebook: An Examination Of Personality And Self-Construal Factors

The present research seeks to extend existing theory on self-disclosure to the online arena in higher educational institutions and contribute to the knowledge base and understanding about the use of a popular social networking site (SNS), Facebook, by college students. We conducted a non-experimental study to investigate how university students (N = 463) use Facebook, and examined the roles that personality and culture play in disclosure of information in online SNS-based environments. Results showed that individuals do disclose differently online vs. in-person, and that both culture and personality matter. Specifically, it was found that collectivistic individuals low on extraversion and interacting in an online environment disclosed the least honest and the most audience-relevant information, as compared to others. Exploratory analyses also indicate that students use sites such as Facebook primarily to maintain existing personal relationships and selectively used privacy settings to control their self-presentation on SNSs. The findings of this study offer insight into understanding college students\u27 self-disclosure on SNS, add to the literature on personality and self-disclosure, and shape future directions for research and practice on online self-presentation. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Exploring Flipboard To Support Coursework: Student Beliefs, Attitudes, Engagement, And Device Choice

The purpose of the study is to explore the use of a mobile application called Flipboard, which facilitates the curation of digital content into a magazine-like product, to engage students in class discussion and participation in a college course. Research questions include: (1) What were students’ beliefs and attitudes regarding the use of Flipboard in the learning environment? (2) How engaged were students in the activity? (3) How did device choice affect student activity in the Flipboard assignment? A survey revealed that most students found the assignment useful and relevant to their learning and read more articles because the magazine was class-created. Device choice did not affect how many articles students contributed, but those primarily using mobile devices read significantly more articles than those using the computer. Implications and recommendations are shared to practitioners

Teaching complicated conceptual knowledge with simulation videos in foundational electrical engineering courses

Building a solid foundation of conceptual knowledge is critical for students in electrical engineering. This case study explores the use of simulation videos to illustrate complicated conceptual knowledge in foundational communications and signal processing courses. Students found these videos to be very useful for establishing concepts, understanding course content and increasing general knowledge in electrical engineering. We hope that the findings can help inform instructors of electrical engineering to transform their teaching practice and eventually benefit students through building a solid conceptual understanding that fosters the development of further engineering competencies

Exploring Design Elements For Online Stem Courses: Active Learning, Engagement &Amp; Assessment Design

The purpose of this study was to examine effective design elements for online courses in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at a large four-year public university in southeastern United States. Our research questions addressed the influence of online design elements on students’ perception of learning and learning satisfaction. An online survey was completed by 537 students from 15 online STEM courses in spring 2016. The survey results indicated that student perceptions of learning and satisfaction were correlated with their perceptions of the efficacy of specific design elements, such as integrated active learning activities, interactive engagement strategies, and robust assessment design. In particular, perception of assessment design efficacy was significantly correlated with students’ self-perceived learning and learning satisfaction for students of all subpopulations. The findings inform instructors and instructional designers on how to design effective, inclusive, and engaging online STEM courses. Student survey responses were observed to support universal design for learning (UDL) and in light of this, online STEM instructors are also strongly encouraged to utilize UDL principles in course design, which benefit not only students with disabilities but all students

Teaching complicated conceptual knowledge with simulation videos in foundational electrical engineering courses

Building a solid foundation of conceptual knowledge is critical for students in electrical engineering. This case study explores the use of simulation videos to illustrate complicated conceptual knowledge in foundational communications and signal processing courses. Students found these videos to be very useful for establishing concepts, understanding course content and increasing general knowledge in electrical engineering. We hope that the findings can help inform instructors of electrical engineering to transform their teaching practice and eventually benefit students through building a solid conceptual understanding that fosters the development of further engineering competencies